


One Less Day [From Dying Young]

by cluelesspaladin



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alfor doesn't know how to be a single parent, Alforan - Freeform, Angst, Coran volunteers a lot, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Modern AU, Seasonal AU, The Holts are related to Coran, Toddler Allura, brief mentions of Matt/Shiro and Pidge/Hunk, canon character death, shenanigans ensue, slow-burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 07:46:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20756837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cluelesspaladin/pseuds/cluelesspaladin
Summary: In the first year without his wife, Alfor decides to make every occasion extra special for his toddler, Allura. Which means more than a few adventures in store for the little girl and her newly widowed father.But somehow, there’s one other constant. A strange, quirky man who seems to volunteer at all the events that he takes Allura to with a smile like the sun and hair like autumn leaves. Coran- a man whose family was lost in a tragic accident. The more they meet, the more Allura takes a shine to the man- and perhaps opens a door Alfor didn’t know was shut.Or- the Alforan Hallmark movie we didn't know we needed but I'm happy to deliver.





	One Less Day [From Dying Young]

The day was crisp and cool, the sun making a valiant attempt to break through the cloud cover as Alfor finished wrapping Allura’s pastel pink scarf around her neck and pressing a bearded kiss against her cheek.

The toddler was still half asleep but eager as ever as she rubbed at her eyes with a mittened hand. Today was the day that had been promised to go to the local pumpkin patch and pick out her very first pumpkin all by herself, and the two-year-old was hardly about to let her father forget about the occasion.

(The nap in the car on the way to the farm spoke levels at her dedication to the mission.)

She looked so much like her mother already, curls of white blond falling around her round cheeks and her bright blue eyes reflecting the gray of the sky as she pouted at him, scuffing one gumboot against the ground as she insistently pointed at the distant land of bright orange pumpkins in the field.

He chuckled at the look she levelled at him, straightening and offering a hand for her to hold.

It was a tradition of theirs- or, well. It would just be his and Allura’s, now. He and Melenor had come to the farm in their small town for several years before Allura had been born, his wife always eager to pick out the perfect pumpkin to carve for the Halloween season. This would be the first autumn in nearly a decade that they would not choose pumpkins together.

“Pum’im!” Allura declared, gesturing wildly as they passed through the wreath covered arch into the farm, Alfor offering the young man near the gate a nod. The massive old metal scale that stood in the barn during the summer months had been hauled out again, standing proud amongst a handful of larger pumpkins that were nearly double Allura’s height.

This year, there was a corn maze addition to the farm, the further fields laid with the tall stalks that reached toward the sky. It reminded Alfor of his own childhood back in the British countryside, every fall marked with adventures through corn fields and tumbling through fallen leaves.

“Yes, yes. Of course, little star.” He chuckled; attention drawn back to his daughter. Allura’s gaze was firmly fixated on the pumpkins, so close and yet so far still from her tiny little hands. “Just a little further.”

There were, of course, the other crowds of toddlers and their indulgent parents. A handful of others about the same age as Allura toddling around with big eyes bright as they tried to wrap too-small arms around pumpkins.

Allura tugged herself free, sure in her steps as she looked around herself critically. Alfor watched with a faint smile tugging his lips. Allura was already showing quite the promise in turning into a little genius. Her mother had always joked about her little girl turning into the next Einstein with the cloud of hair and her advanced learning abilities. It seemed now like it was a self-fulfilling prophecy.

“Pum’im.” She said again, a little wobbly as she turned around, full pout wielded with deadly accuracy. Parents and older children alike parted like the seas at the sheer overload of determined pink and white as she critically examined each pumpkin for optimum quality.

(This included gentle patting on the sides and kisses to the ones that didn’t make the cut.)

All the while, Alfor made sure to document the entire thing on his phone, asking his daughter questions and pointing out pumpkins that she might have otherwise missed. He was also lucky enough to catch the entire moment on scene when, as she found _the_ pumpkin, the delighted squeal and ensuing patting and shuffling around it.

It was, admittedly, not the worst pumpkin. Despite half of it still being vaguely green, slightly misshapen so that it appeared as though someone had sat upon it and a stem that curled every which way, Allura had clearly found her pumpkin.

“Pum’im!” she smiled, toothy and exhilarated.

The camera jiggled as Alfor crouched to her level.

“Are you positive, little star?” he asked, very firm and serious.

She gave him a deadpan look that could have dropped the most cold-hearted of monsters.

“Very well then, little star. This one it is!” he declared with a laugh, making sure to get one more picture with Allura next to it before tucking his phone into his pocket and collecting the pumpkin from the ground. All the while, Allura looked on anxiously, as if she were ready to catch it should it fall.

She probably _should_ have stuck right next to her father, but there was a very interesting man in funny clothing and paint on his face and orange hair like a pumpkin wandering around nearby and she thought he looked like he needed help picking out a pumpkin too.

-

Alfor didn’t even think that Allura might not be following him, so intent he was on not dropping the admittedly rather heavy pumpkin on his way to the scale.

At least, not until the young man at the scale inquired after where his little one had gone to.

Panic immediately set in and he whirled, barely managing to set the pumpkin down on the scale in time as his gaze went where Allura should have been.

He was about to start calling her name when she appeared, leading who appeared to be one of the volunteers, who also happened to be dressed head to toe in a rather convincing scarecrow costume.

“Ah, so this is your papa, then, is it?” the man asked Allura as they drew nearer, lifting his warm gaze to meet Alfor’s. “Your little one was just regaling me with her enthusiasm for her pumpkin, I would assume. Hard to tell with these little ones sometimes, the lack of vocab can be hard to decipher.”

His voice was accented, perhaps Australian, but he was nothing but careful as he made sure Allura was ushered back next to Alfor’s side. That done, the other man crouched to his daughter’s level, making sure to keep her gaze as he said, “now remember, you must not go wandering from your papa’s side little one! There are all kinds of scamps and scoundrels out there!”

“Pum’im!” Allura said dutifully, her eyes fixated on the man’s hair.

Internally, everything made sense all at once to Alfor. He resisted the urge to sigh as his daughter latched back onto his hand like she should have been the entire time, instead offering a relieved smile to the stranger as he straightened up and offered them a bright grin.

“Lovely little one you have there.” He said cheerfully. “You two have a lovely afternoon now!”

And with that he wandered off, whistling a melody Alfor didn’t recognize and leaving him to deal with the aftermath of his color-focused offspring.

Which, after paying for the pumpkin and getting her loaded back into her car seat, led to a lot of prayers and muttering to the powers that be to keep him from going insane before his daughter saw adulthood.

(The pumpkin ended up decorated in stickers. The second that Allura saw a knife going near the gourd she burst into panicked tears.)


End file.
